Eternity
by Kitarin
Summary: Ban didn't want one minute...he wanted eternity. (BG written for The Day After Tomorrow fanfic challenge)


I've written several GB stories, and some of them make more sense when read in a certain order:  
Closer To Me   
Not Everyone   
Strawberry & Vanilla Swirled   
All Of Me   
Sleep Talking   
Breakwater   
Of The Summer Sunshine   
Art   
Anytime   
The Bell   
Prism   
Family   
Harmony   
The Silver Chain   
Eternity   
Only a few are uploaded here, and the rest can be found at my webpage: www.kitarin.com

* * *

Eternity  
  
Written for The Day After Tomorrow fanfic challenge   
  
I love NY, with the love replaced by a giant red heart.   
  
The familiar logo was emblazoned across the front of the grey sweatshirts they'd snitched from one of the gift shops along 5th Avenue. The store managers had given up on charging people, even at that early hour, and Ginji hadn't questioned Ban's silent trek across the city. He hadn't questioned the panicked people, the crazy traffic jams, the radios and televisions blaring all over the city in a language he didn't understand, a city that had been their temporary home since last Christmas, when Ban had presented him with plane tickets as a surprise.   
  
GBI - Get Backers International - had actually gone... well, about as well as the original Get Backers of Shinjuku had, Ginji thought. They'd made enough money to survive, to tour the city, to visit some other American places Ginji had read about in books.   
  
Ginji hadn't even had to struggle to keep up with his partner's habitual weaving in and out of the crowd, because outside of the gift shop, Ban had wordlessly taken hold of Ginji's hand – in public! – and led him through the crowd, and Ginji didn't even complain that he was gripping it so tightly that from time to time, a tug actually hurt.   
  
For all that his habitual nature was full of questions and pestering, Ginji's intuition was stronger, and he made not a single complaint until they reached the 42nd flight of stairs in some unnamed building, when he finally tripped over his own feet and nearly sent them both tumbling down the concrete and steel.   
  
"We can sit a moment," Ban said softly and they settled at the next landing, against the wall.   
  
"Ne, Ban-chan..." Ginji started once he'd caught his breath, and he paused as he saw his partner flinch. "Will you tell me what's going on?"   
  
"I was hoping you wouldn't ask," he tried to smile, but it came out only as a grimace. "I know you saw some of what the weather channel was displaying on the TV in that shop..."   
  
Ginji nodded, eyes wide as he rest elbows on knees and leaned forward. "Hai... hail back home... and tornadoes... things that are not normal."   
  
Ban sighed, closing his eyes, and slowly explained what he'd been able to understand from the frantic reports... what was happening now, what was going to happen. He did not open his eyes until his voice had gone silent, until he felt Ginji's hand close over his.   
  
"Ban-chan... are we..." he couldn't bring himself to ask.   
  
Ban didn't answer the unspoken question, but climbed to his feet and offered Ginji his hand.   
  
The city was underwater, and Ginji had stood with face and hands pressed to the glass of an office window, watching as the snow continued to fall. They'd survived the wave, but with every passing hour, the temperature had been dropping, and they had stood in silence, side by side, Ban's arm dropped around Ginji's shoulders, as the city started to freeze over.   
  
Ginji knew then, as he reached to finger a pendant underneath his sweater, that he might never see any of them again. His friends... no, his family. The phone lines, even the cells, had gone with the power itself, and he hadn't been able to get through to any of them before that.   
  
There was no doubt that it was beautiful, like some untouched piece of crystal that sat in the case of a fine store, something to be admired, but not touched. There was a certain kind of vacant and unfeeling silence in the ice. Ginji felt the emptiness of the city profoundly, so sensitive to the powerful hum of not only electronics, but the electricity present in every living being.   
  
Now they were huddled together in a hallway, away from windows, away from places where the air outside could penetrate. It was dark, darker than any night, but Ginji's ethereal glow was enough to make out the shadows of faces, enough to heat the tiny space to a livable temperature.   
  
And it was fine to rely on Ginji's powers this way, in fact, it wasn't the first time they had done so... but this time, the hope of any kind of rescue seemed too dim to even mention.   
  
And Ginji's electricity would last only as long as his strength held out – only as long as his hope held on.   
  
He wouldn't say it, but his partner knew him inside and out. "It's too tiring for you to continue this way," Ban murmured against his ear, hardly more than a whisper.   
  
"I'm good," Ginji chirped back, but there was an edge to the words.   
  
"No, you're not... but if you didn't have to worry about me, you'd be able to go on a lot longer, maybe until someone reached the city to rescue the survivors."   
  
"No...no!" This response was almost strangled as Ginji's breathing hitched slightly. "I won't leave you!"   
  
"But-"   
  
"Ban-chan!" Ginji turned his face so that their noses were touching, and it was when Ban realized that his partner's nose was as cold as his own that his own heart skipped. Ginji, ever a ball of energy, was almost never cold to the touch. Unless he'd exhausted every last bit of his power as Raitei and... Ban forced the thought to end before it reached its conclusion. "Without you, I don't _care_ if I survive! Did you...did you forget the S?"   
  
"I didn't forget the S..." he sighed and pressed a kiss to the tears rolling down Ginji's cheeks, but like champagne uncorked, Ginji now let loose everything he'd bottled up, sobbing his tears into Ban's sweatshirt as his partner's arms tightened around him.   
  
It wasn't until the blond had fallen to silence again and the ever present glow seemed to dim that Ban found himself worried, and even through the haze that seemed to cloud his usually sharp mind, he shook Ginji slightly. How many hours, days had it been? He'd lost track. "Ginji... come on, baka, stay awake, stay with me..."   
  
"Mmm..." The reply was less than half-hearted, and desperately searching for a way to keep him here, Ban turned his face sharply, pressed their mouths together, demanded entrance. For a moment, he didn't get a response this way either, but surely enough, Ginji soon returned the gesture, his hands reaching to curl into Ban's hair as the glow flickered sharply again. "Ban-chan... don't want it to end like this... but... there isn't any hope, is there..."   
  
"Ginji..." For his ever-optimistic partner to say such a thing made something deep within Ban ache, and without even being sure of the reasoning, he found himself suddenly a touch frantic. "Ginji, look at me..."   
  
"M'sleepy..." came the murmured reply. "Can't see you anyways...too dark..."   
  
Ban fumbled in his pocket awkwardly, muttering under his breath, his eyes flicking back to the shadow of Ginji's face. And then it was in his hand, and bringing the little silver box up to their faces, he pinched Ginji sharply, demanding again. "Look at me!"   
  
The flame of the lighter was reflected in Ginji's startled brown eyes, and Ban let himself go, falling with his partner wherever he might wish to go.   
  
Ginji's laughter bubbled over like a fountain as he raced across hot white sand and into the arms of his friends. And Ban was content to watch, the only figure in this dream who could see through it, as Ginji embraced them all, dancing in joyful circles. And Ban was happy to let him have this moment under the sun and the too blue sky, grateful to see that grin again... so much that he would let it go on and on as long as Ginji willed it to... as long as he wanted to eat the bentos prepared by Natsumi, build sand castles with Emishi, write Kazuki and Juubei's names in the sand with seashells... And Ban usually hated when the dreams went on too long, for it blurred together, too fast to comprehend at times... but this time, he wished for more than a minute for the amount of life and living that Ginji was still hungering for. He wanted more than a minute.   
  
He wanted eternity.   
  
And when Ginji tired of his play and came to him, hands and lips as warm as he ever remembered, he let himself indulge in this fantasy too, he stopped watching Ginji's eyes in the real world, as if by forgetting what this was, they really could exist inside it forever. And yet, once they lay sprawled on the sand in the afterglow, Ginji turned to him, touched his cheek, smiled, and he knew it was over.   
  
The warmth seemed to linger even after Ginji blinked and Ban smiled, letting the flame of the lighter die out. "Ban-chan..." He couldn't even bring himself to say thank you.   
  
"Ginji?"   
  
"It will be okay, you know."   
  
"What will?"   
  
"To... to die here, with you."   
  
Ban wouldn't tell him not to say it, wouldn't argue and say they'd live. He just nodded, understood.   
  
And in that moment of mutual acceptance, a sound echoed, a horn loud enough to shake the very building they were in. The flame of the lighter flicked again, illuminating their faces - Ginji's hopeful surprise and the hint of Ban's familiar smirk.   
  



End file.
